Puzzle Pieces
by JLo10131121
Summary: He felt fiercely protective, achingly in love, and doggedly determined to keep what he had here with her. Outlaw Queen. OQ Family. Robin Hood's POV.


**Author's Note: **Yes, I'm working on T&C Chapter 8, but I promised some on Twitter for a fluffy oneshot so I'm delivering. Note regarding this story: Marian did NOT come back. In fact, much of that time is glossed over because I wanted to do a moment of their lives, not a massive story, which I sincerely don't have time for. Anyway, this is completely unbaeted and completed on the fly. Enjoy and please read and review. They're all I have to know if you like my work. Thanks!

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How was it possible? How was it possible to be so deeply in love? Robin thought in wonder as he held the small bundle in his arms. Ten tiny toes. Ten of the littlest fingers he'd ever seen, a cupid's bow for a mouth currently open in a yawn, and he laughed as his daughter looked up at him with an expression much like her mother when she was upset with him.

"She's got your face," he called to Regina and she came into the living room from the kitchen, a towel in her hands, wiping some of the chocolate from her fingers.

A smile spread quick and easy as she witnessed father and daughter bonding. "But she has your eyes," she added, brushing a thumb near the corner of his eyes before he reached up and brought down her palm for a kiss in the center.

"I also love that shock of dark hair, also yours," he murmured, looking up.

"Like mother, like daughter," she replied and headed back into the kitchen to continue baking chocolate muffins. Henry was at Emma's tonight while Roland had stayed behind for the promisd muffins. Roland had begged for them earlier and he was currently sneaking semi-sweet kisses from the bag into his mouth. "Just what do you think you're doing, young man?" she asked in a mock growl voice, eyes narrowed in warning.

"Nothin'," he lied quickly and those big eyes blinked innocently at her, never mind the evidence of his thievery was smeared all over his mouth.

Regina smothered a laugh. "What did I tell you about telling fibs? Do you want your nose to grow like Pinnochio?" she asked, and although August was no longer a boy (thankfully!), he continued to serve as a reminder of the consequences of lying.

"No, Mama, but it's chocolate!" he wailed a little petulantly, big brown eyes pleading.

She caved. She never could say no to any of her boys. "Okay, you can have one more palmful, but no more after that. We need them to make the muffins. Or have you decided to stop being my little helper?"

"No, Mama. I 'member what Uncle Hook said about being a good first mate," he promised and Regina had to purse her lips against a laugh at the serious expression on his little face.

"Well then, let's continue."

For the rest of the day, Regina baked chocolate muffins with the help of her step-son and Robin spent time with his newest child. Rosalyn was a month and a half old and although he'd spent time with her, Robin had been busy helping with the sheriff's department as a deputy part-time. Emma and David usually had it well in hand, but every once in a while, something came up and he was called out. For the last few weeks, it seemed like they always needed help, and so he'd barely been home. Taking the second or third shift. Helping some kid find his dog, Robin thought and yawned a bit.

He looked down and couldn't help but smile as his little daughter scrutinized him with her big blue eyes, an exact replica of his own. So young, so new, and she had her mother's expressions down pat. He'd never had a daughter, never been around many girls, many baby girls. Raising boys was radically different, he thought and shifted Rosalyn to the nook of his other arm. She whimpered a little and then settled in, closing her eyes. They were rough and tumble, taking hits and giving as good as they got.

He'd not been around a child as young as she since when Roland was an infant. And though he was partially terrified, he was absolutely entranced by the bundle in his arms. There was something incredibly magical about children, he thought smiling at his sleeping daughter before glancing up and over at his wife and son busily making a mess in the kitchen. He'd thought he was happy before. Before he'd met Regina, he'd been….content with his life. He'd had his son, a calling in life that fulfilled him. But he'd been missing something.

He thought he'd found it in Regina when they met, tempestuously both in the Enchanted Forest and in Storybrooke. He huffed in remembrance of her dogged refusal to see him as anything other than a thief when they'd been in the Forest and how incredibly open she'd been (once she let her guard down) to starting something in Storybrooke. Even just having barely met her, Robin had prompted her for drinks in the barn. She'd intrigued him most enticingly. Regina was stunningly beautiful and she'd taken his breath away. The anger in her eyes when they initially met had pulled at him, made him sit up and take notice, and he'd been wildly attracted. When he found her again in the woods after the confrontation with Zelena, seeing her so vulnerable and hurting and willing to open up about her insecurities….that woman he'd had glimpse of had turned that attraction into intense interest.

And then he'd lost her heart and she'd understood. That still amazed him. She'd barely known him then, but she'd been concerned more for Roland than for herself. That night in the woods….

Regina had approached him first. She'd shocked him by kissing him forcefully that night though he'd been pursuing her gently since they met. And their courtship had been a whirlwind. He'd proposed to her one night beneath the stars after they'd shared a bottle of wine and good conversation. He could still remember the way the flames from the fire flickered and danced across her face, giving it a warm glow that had only enhanced when he'd asked her to marry him. The sheen of tears in her eyes when she'd said yes and the relief he'd felt upon her acceptance. The happiness and love he'd felt as he'd pulled her to him for a long kiss.

All of that paled in comparison to the intense and incredible joy and peace he felt as he held Rosalyn, his beautiful daughter. She was the product of their love, a beautiful light. A beautiful light who was getting fussy, he thought wryly.

"Regina, I think your daughter is hungry," he called over.

Regina ducked her head out, listening to the small whimpers Rosalyn was beginning to voice. "Yes, she is. I'll be right out," she told Robin and turned her attention back to Roland. "Let's stop for now so I can feed Rosalyn. Wash your hands and you can play a video game for a bit."

Roland hurriedly washed his hands as Regina supervised and helped him dry off properly before following him into the living room to set up a game of Mario Kart on the Wii. Once he was settled, she reached for her daughter, who by then was working up to full-fledged cries and soon to be screams if she didn't get her meal. The baby immediately began to nuzzle her breast and Regina walked faster to the nursery, Robin not far behind.

Reaching the nursery, she left Robin to turn on the light as she settled herself in the rocking chair in the corner and hurriedly unbuttoned her blouse and pulled down her nursing bra before helping her daughter to her breast to eat. She winced slightly at the insistent suckling before the tension eased off. Looking at her husband wryly, she said, "I can't wait until she gets the hang of the bottle. This _hurts." _

Robin smothered a laugh and came over to sit by his wife's side on the ground and watch his newborn daughter nurse, dark eyes focused on her mother. "You know what they say."

"That crap about breast is best was invented by some male, I'm sure," Regina said sourly. "Besides, I could easily pump milk for her, but she wants—"

"The real deal," he completed and a mischievous glint came into his eyes. "I can't blame her."

A flash of heat arrowed through Regina very inappropriately at the lecherous look in his eyes before it calmed when they softened and she watched as he gazed in wonder at their daughter. He leaned over and caressed her soft, downy little head and pressed a kiss to the top, nuzzling Regina's breast in the process. Regina allowed the hand not cradling Rosalyn to comb her fingers through his hair, tugging gently, pulling on the strands. A hum was released between them and he pressed himself deeper into her, closer to her and their daughter.

"You know," he said softly, keeping his voice quiet and soothing so as not to interrupt the infant at her breast, "I've never been happier than right now."

Regina looked down at him and half-smiled.

"I have my son, I have you, I have a fine young step-son as a great role model for Roland, and now, I have the world's most beautiful baby girl. This is my life. I'd never have imagined this could be possible just four years after losing my wife. Finding you was the best thing to happen to me in years." _Maybe my entire life, _he thought and felt a pang of guilt for thinking that way. Marian had been his everything at one time, but he couldn't imagine his life without Regina. The depth of feeling he had for the woman exceeded anything he'd ever known. He felt fiercely protective, achingly in love, and doggedly determined to keep what he had here with her. These last two years had been a whirlwind, with meeting each other, falling in love, defeating a wicked witch, courting this guarded woman in front of him, proposing and getting married, and then finding out she was pregnant. Regina had been so worried when they'd gotten the news, terrified she'd screw things up like she had with Henry, so worried she'd confided she thought about having an abortion for a split second before her sense had returned and she'd rejected the thought.

Because he couldn't imagine his life without the little bundle cradled in her mother's arms. Because everything felt like puzzle pieces slipping into place. He'd arranged and rearranged the pieces many times in the years since Marian's death, never finding the right fit. But then he'd met Regina and fallen in love, and they'd begun to fall into place. And now, with Rosalyn, it felt like the last piece of the puzzle, so long waited and searched for, missing for so many years, had been pressed into that hole, fitted and complete. And for the first time ever, his heart felt…..

Complete.

He felt complete. Rosalyn was the last piece of the puzzle and as he looked at his wife and newborn daughter, he knew it. He was free. And the curious itch that had always been inside, urging him and whispering to him to move on, to keep going, searching, questing…quieted and then was silenced.

He was home.

_Fin_


End file.
